Newsletter: The Good Hopes of False Bay

Hi divers

The ship that has been a part of the False Bay skyline for several months now, Panos Earth, was recently sold on auction (at the lowest price ever paid for a Panamax ship) and is now being repaired to leave the bay at some time. It’s too large to fit into Cape Town harbour. According to AIS, a vessel tracking system, the ship has been renamed the Good Hope. I wonder whether the owners are aware of the location of the last Good Hope seen in False Bay. It ended up in Smitswinkel Bay under 30 metres of seawater, it has become a very popular dive site.

Whilst hoping for good diving I can safely say you can remove some of the hope factor as the last week’s winds and weather has cleaned the bay up very nicely. I was out on the boat on Tuesday and Wednesday and can assure you the water is clean. On Tuesday I was lucky to be in the right place at the right time with a camera in my hand. Just south of Roman Rock I saw a seal and a spearnose skate have an epic battle. Sadly the score was seal – 1, skate – 0, but it was breathtaking to witness. There’s a series of photos of the event here. Wednesday was like a lake, the visibility on the Smitswinkel Bay wreck (Princess Elizabeth) that I took the divers to was 10 metres or more, and you could see the wreck of the PMB at 22 metres from the safety stop.

Weekend weather

Well, the hope factor is back, and I am hoping the forecast is accurate and holds for Sunday. Tomorrow and Saturday will blow really hard from the north west, dying late afternoon and Sunday will/ should /could be/ better be really nice diving as there will/ should /could be/better be no wind and lots of sun. Diving the wrecks in Smitswinkel Bay is always better with great viz so that’s where we will go for the first launch and for a second dive we will do the SAS Pietermaritzburg.

Cape Town Dive Festival

With the addition of an extra boat on both the Friday and the Saturday, there are some open spaces available in these last two weeks before the dive price goes up to R200. Those of you who haven’t paid for your dives or booked yet should do so before 1 August because the price increases then. We will be at the festival both days, diving and chilling under a gazebo, watching the baboons and rush of activities. We are looking forward to a really good event that I hope will be a real boost to diving in Cape Town.